The Collaborative International Dictionary
Able \A"ble\, a. [comp. Abler; superl. Ablest.] [OF. habile, L. habilis that may be easily held or managed, apt, skillful, fr. habere to have, hold. Cf. Habile and see Habit.]
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Fit; adapted; suitable. [Obs.]
A many man, to ben an abbot able.
--Chaucer. Having sufficient power, strength, force, skill, means, or resources of any kind to accomplish the object; possessed of qualifications rendering competent for some end; competent; qualified; capable; as, an able workman, soldier, seaman, a man able to work; a mind able to reason; a person able to be generous; able to endure pain; able to play on a piano.
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Specially: Having intellectual qualifications, or strong mental powers; showing ability or skill; talented; clever; powerful; as, the ablest man in the senate; an able speech.
No man wrote abler state papers.
--Macaulay. -
(Law) Legally qualified; possessed of legal competence; as, able to inherit or devise property.
Note:
Able for, is Scotticism.
``Hardly able for such a march.''
--Robertson.Syn: Competent; qualified; fitted; efficient; effective; capable; skillful; clever; vigorous; powerful.
Wiktionary
phr. (context Irish dialectal English) Fit to cope with.
Usage examples of "able for".
The skins were worn down next to nothing, and the chair retained little value, but it was too comfort-able for her to part with.
I'd gone to the Edgewater Hotel in my all-purpose dress to eat lunch with Ashley, who'd worn an outfit suit-able for bagging game.
Have they not been able for a short time to establish an aristocratic government?
During her long meditation in a white-swathed chair before the muffled hearth she had been able for the first time to clear a way through the darkness and confusion of her thoughts.